Comments on: A Story in Numbers http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/ A bibliophile's musings on books, libraries, the world, life, and anything else that comes to mind Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:13:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Jonathan http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3880 Jonathan Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:45:16 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3880 Yes, we have the same problem of wasteful free printing here at MPOW as well. But really irks me is that we don't have a system in place to prevent community members from taking advantage of the free printing we offer our students and faculty. Consequently, word has gotten around our consortium, and students come from other schools who charge and do their printing here for free! Yes, we have the same problem of wasteful free printing here at MPOW as well. But really irks me is that we don’t have a system in place to prevent community members from taking advantage of the free printing we offer our students and faculty. Consequently, word has gotten around our consortium, and students come from other schools who charge and do their printing here for free!

]]> By: dave free http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3391 dave free Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:44:26 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3391 I'm a little late to this one, but we had the same problem at MPOW for a long time. Huge amount of waste by our students and community users. Printing is now done through a swipe card system. Students can print 125 pages free per semester (kinda low) and then pay 6 cents per page. Community users (anyone not affiliated) has to buy a card and pay 6 cents a page. This pretty much eliminated the huge amount of wasted paper and toner. All of the money goes to college-wide printing services but they supply us with paper and toner. I’m a little late to this one, but we had the same problem at MPOW for a long time. Huge amount of waste by our students and community users. Printing is now done through a swipe card system. Students can print 125 pages free per semester (kinda low) and then pay 6 cents per page. Community users (anyone not affiliated) has to buy a card and pay 6 cents a page.

This pretty much eliminated the huge amount of wasted paper and toner. All of the money goes to college-wide printing services but they supply us with paper and toner.

]]> By: Mr. Rochester http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3321 Mr. Rochester Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:17:26 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3321 You would never find me in a library in college so I couldn't tell you how it worked. I did any printing I had to do from the computer lab where you were given a quota for the semester. Color copies counted something like 5 pages. But I never once came close to hitting my quota. Just knowing it was there kept people from wasting a printout. Even if the quota was a huge number they made sure they had it right before printing. That being said, what is needed is a change in the culture. The students are half way there these days, they just need some encouragement from the professors. However, the professors are the dinosaurs caught back in the paper days. They can post all class assignments and other information on a class website. Students can turn in assignments through e-mail or disk. Then there is never a reason to turn in homework. But we all know that is not going to happen soon. You would never find me in a library in college so I couldn’t tell you how it worked. I did any printing I had to do from the computer lab where you were given a quota for the semester. Color copies counted something like 5 pages. But I never once came close to hitting my quota. Just knowing it was there kept people from wasting a printout. Even if the quota was a huge number they made sure they had it right before printing.

That being said, what is needed is a change in the culture. The students are half way there these days, they just need some encouragement from the professors. However, the professors are the dinosaurs caught back in the paper days. They can post all class assignments and other information on a class website. Students can turn in assignments through e-mail or disk. Then there is never a reason to turn in homework. But we all know that is not going to happen soon.

]]> By: Alison http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3301 Alison Wed, 30 Aug 2006 00:43:05 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3301 Simmons is another one with a campus-wide policy. We get 300 pages free a semester. Print jobs are trapped by a print management system, and to print you have to select your job and swipe your ID, and that amount is pages is deducted from your page-balance (that part is conducted in actual money, I think the charge is $0.07/page. If you run out before the end of the semester, you have to pay for any remaining printing. It works really well, as we found this summer session when all printing was free and unmonitored while the system is changed over. I work in the computer lab for the library school, and I have never seen so many abandoned printouts or full recycle bins. Simmons is another one with a campus-wide policy. We get 300 pages free a semester. Print jobs are trapped by a print management system, and to print you have to select your job and swipe your ID, and that amount is pages is deducted from your page-balance (that part is conducted in actual money, I think the charge is $0.07/page. If you run out before the end of the semester, you have to pay for any remaining printing.

It works really well, as we found this summer session when all printing was free and unmonitored while the system is changed over. I work in the computer lab for the library school, and I have never seen so many abandoned printouts or full recycle bins.

]]> By: Jenica http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3296 Jenica Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:14:54 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3296 Our campus limits printing to 300 pages, free, per semester, and then you pay ten cents per page for each sheet past that, billed to your student account. Service points don't have to justify their policy -- it's campuswide -- and no money changes hands except when students pay their bills to the Bursar. It works really well for us, and students don't complain -- they're told they get 600 free pages each year, and they like that. Our campus limits printing to 300 pages, free, per semester, and then you pay ten cents per page for each sheet past that, billed to your student account. Service points don’t have to justify their policy — it’s campuswide — and no money changes hands except when students pay their bills to the Bursar. It works really well for us, and students don’t complain — they’re told they get 600 free pages each year, and they like that.

]]> By: Dana http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3294 Dana Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:25:19 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3294 My library has instituted a policy just as you describe...printing is "free" but you are limited to 60 pages of printing per semester. It has worked beyond our expectations and our printing is completely under control. My library has instituted a policy just as you describe…printing is “free” but you are limited to 60 pages of printing per semester. It has worked beyond our expectations and our printing is completely under control.

]]> By: Joy Weese Moll http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3293 Joy Weese Moll Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:17:04 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3293 The actual cost of printing is much more in the toner than in the paper. So you can multiply that number by about 3, I think. I'll write up our saga of printing on my blog later today or tomorrow. The actual cost of printing is much more in the toner than in the paper. So you can multiply that number by about 3, I think.

I’ll write up our saga of printing on my blog later today or tomorrow.

]]> By: Angel http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3292 Angel Tue, 29 Aug 2006 18:00:07 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3292 You know where I am at, so it is the same. Free printing and tons of wasted paper. It is pretty much something that concerns some of the librarians, but as long as the "powers that be" feel a need to be free no matter what, nothing is ever going to change. Implementing print control would be possible and feasible. Getting it past the head honcho, well, remember that parable about the rich man, a camel and the eye of a needle? I honestly don't get the deal. Where I used to work at before here, we had print control with students having a quota of how much they could print (paid by their fees). 750 copies was in that ballpark, and it worked fine. Students do and will adapt to any measure that means less waste. We just need for someone at the high levels to actually get some spine and decide that unaccounted waste is not acceptable. After all, we do have significant money troubles, which they never tire of telling us, but I better quit while I am ahead. Best, and keep on blogging. You know where I am at, so it is the same. Free printing and tons of wasted paper. It is pretty much something that concerns some of the librarians, but as long as the “powers that be” feel a need to be free no matter what, nothing is ever going to change. Implementing print control would be possible and feasible. Getting it past the head honcho, well, remember that parable about the rich man, a camel and the eye of a needle?

I honestly don’t get the deal. Where I used to work at before here, we had print control with students having a quota of how much they could print (paid by their fees). 750 copies was in that ballpark, and it worked fine. Students do and will adapt to any measure that means less waste. We just need for someone at the high levels to actually get some spine and decide that unaccounted waste is not acceptable. After all, we do have significant money troubles, which they never tire of telling us, but I better quit while I am ahead. Best, and keep on blogging.

]]> By: GeekChic http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3291 GeekChic Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:57:04 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3291 The university where I went to grad school solved this by having two printers - one that was free and one that cost money to use. The free printer was an old dot matrix behemoth that printed onto form feed paper. It was cheap to run because the ribbons were cheap and it didn't break down. The fee-based printer was a very nice laser jet. Charges for that printer were set at a cost recovery level and they used print management software to deal with it. If you made a mistake and sent your job to the fee-based printer, you just deleted the job from the release station with no harm done. The free printer was usually used for drafts, articles, abstracts and the like. The fee-based printer was used for assignments, resumes, cover letters, etc. It worked very well when I was at school - and I'm told that it still works well today. Maybe something similar would work for you? The university where I went to grad school solved this by having two printers - one that was free and one that cost money to use. The free printer was an old dot matrix behemoth that printed onto form feed paper. It was cheap to run because the ribbons were cheap and it didn’t break down. The fee-based printer was a very nice laser jet. Charges for that printer were set at a cost recovery level and they used print management software to deal with it. If you made a mistake and sent your job to the fee-based printer, you just deleted the job from the release station with no harm done.

The free printer was usually used for drafts, articles, abstracts and the like. The fee-based printer was used for assignments, resumes, cover letters, etc. It worked very well when I was at school - and I’m told that it still works well today. Maybe something similar would work for you?

]]> By: Stephen http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3287 Stephen Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:39:59 +0000 http://wanderingeyre.com/2006/08/29/a-story-in-numbers/#comment-3287 At Baruch College (New York, NY), we have what I think is a pretty good system for our library (and the rest of the campus). We limit students to 1000 sheets per semester (the summer session limits them to 300 sheets). Every time a student is in the library or in a lab anywhere on campus, they are prompted to type in a user ID and password to retrieve their print jobs, thereby debiting their individual printing accounts. Roughly 6% of the tech fee that students pay is set aside to help fund the student printing system (a full report of how tech fee money is divvied up can be found at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bctc/policy/techreport05.htm) At Baruch College (New York, NY), we have what I think is a pretty good system for our library (and the rest of the campus). We limit students to 1000 sheets per semester (the summer session limits them to 300 sheets). Every time a student is in the library or in a lab anywhere on campus, they are prompted to type in a user ID and password to retrieve their print jobs, thereby debiting their individual printing accounts. Roughly 6% of the tech fee that students pay is set aside to help fund the student printing system (a full report of how tech fee money is divvied up can be found at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/bctc/policy/techreport05.htm)

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